FOMC

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the central bank could decide to slow its asset purchases in the next few months and he favored lifting interest rates in 2022 in response to a faster-than expected recovery from COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the price increases seen in the economy recently are bigger than expected but reiterated that they will likely wane.

A discussion about raising interest rates is still quite a ways off as the Federal Reserve begins debating tapering its bond-buying program, New York Fed President John Williams said.

John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC, talks with Chip Barnett about the pandemic’s lingering credit impacts on state finances in a wide-ranging discussion of the many issues affecting the municipal market today. (17 minutes)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said inflation had picked up but should move back toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target once supply imbalances resolve.

The short end of the yield curve faced pressure from a cheaper UST five-year. As the flattening trend in UST takes hold, demand for duration will also spill over into the tax-exempt space, with long-dated munis continuing to outperform, analysts say.

The Investment Company Institute on Wednesday reported $2.533 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, the highest since February.

Most analysts expect the Federal Open Market Committee will alter its Summary of Economic Projections and perhaps begin to talk about tapering, without offering clues when they'll begin cutting back on asset purchases.

Yields on top-quality munis were flat on the AAA scales Friday; yields were seven to nine basis points lower on the week.

“We have to be careful in removing accommodation so that we don’t create any kind of ‘taper tantrum,’ ” Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said.